In Praise of Scottish Trails

Frolicking 70 miles through some of the most romantic scenery Scotland has to offer.

I love Scotland. I’ve been enthralled with the country since first seeing its misty munros and rolling highlands in Braveheart. Sure, the history depicted of William Wallace’s rebellious campaign against the English is notoriously flimsy. But the camera didn’t fake those views, people.

During my junior year of high school, I even visited a university simply because they had some program that offered studying abroad opportunities in Scotland. Unfortunately, that university was out of state, which just makes tuition even more criminally expensive.

I finally found my way to Scotland in 2018 when I traveled in November to visit a whisky hotel in Dornoch for work. We made this little travel video, kicking off with a sequence that mirrors the beginning of Trainspotting. I was quite happy with the film and was sure it would kickstart a career of hosting more travel videos.

Spoiler: It didn’t. But here’s the video anyways.

It took me another four years to get back to Scotland. That time, it was to run a trail race in the Cairngorms—a Scottish national park I had wanted to visit since taking the train through on that trip to Dornoch.

At some point during that visit, I purchased The Living Mountain by Nan Shepherd. For my money, it’s some of the finest nature writing you can find in English. The book simply follows Nan’s life spending time hiking in and around the Cairngorms. She felt like a kindred spirit of sorts, writing about her preference to be amongst the trees rather than climbing to the top of a mountain for the sake of ‘conquering’ it.

Don’t get me wrong. I love a good schlep and the feeling of accomplishment when you finally get to the top—even better when there isn’t a car park full of tourists taking the shortcut for a quick snap. But I ultimately prefer being in the forest rather than on top of the mountain.

Running Wild

Another three years later and I made it back to Scotland. This time, I came to run sections of the West Highland Way and Great Glen Way trails in the Highlands—both to hunt for stories and scout for future Burning River Running Company itineraries.

I started by taking the train up from Glasgow to the Bridge of Orchy. The weather was very, well, Scottish—a constant spitting of rain. But that didn’t stop a big stupid grin from sliding across my goofy mug. I might have even chuckled when I could see the green just a short stroll away from village.

The morning couldn’t come soon enough. I scarfed down breakfast during the earliest available slot and was moving by 7:55 a.m. It didn’t take long to get into the thick of it, crunching across rocky, dirt trail in a roller coaster ride of popular hiking paths.

The West Highland Way

The West Highland Way is celebrating its 45th anniversary. It's known as Scotland's first long-distance trail, following old drove and military roads etched across the Highlands from Milngavie to Fort William. Suffice it to say, it’s also the country’s most popular trail. That’s easy enough to surmise judging by the amount of backpackers out on the trail.

That’s not to say the trail was overcrowded. Far from it. There was still plenty of serene solitude to be had. I could pause whenever I wanted and take in the distant waterfalls, spilling into the streams that run down the mountainside and underneath my feet.

My time on the West Highland Way ended in Fort William, which is a tourist and adventure hub in the Scottish Highlands. From there, you can hike up Ben Nevis—the tallest mountain in Great Britain—or do as I did and continue on the Great Glen Way, a roughly 75-mile trail that ends in Inverness.

The main draw to the Great Glen Way is Loch Ness. Yes, that of Nessie fame.

Searching for Nessie

The heart of all things Nessie is in Drumnadrochit. I expected a kind of Disney World of all things Nessie. And though there was some building that billed itself as Nessie Land (the paltry 3.0 Google rating was low enough to almost lure me in out of morbid curiosity), the fan fare for the legendary monster was rather tame. Granted I did arrive just outside of high season. But the kitsch was remarkably low key.

The night before my run to Drumnadrochit, I gave myself a quick refresher on the Nessie legend. The blurry black and white image of a long, goose-necked creature is firmly implanted in my brain. But that’s about it.

Interestingly, the Nessie story stretches back over 1,000 years. Monks were first to describe a Nessie-esque creature living in the Loch. Fast forward, claimed sightings became more regular in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Almost all photographs are admitted hoaxes. One of the more famous faked photographs was even a setup by a disgruntled former employee who wanted to get back at his old publisher for mocking him when he claimed to find Nessie footprints.

One thing is clear: People want Nessie to be real. I think it’s because we’re just naturally drawn to the fantastical. It’s the same reason we want aliens or other monsters, like the Sasquatch, to be real. As much as we like to understand what’s going on in our every day lives, we seem to love an existential reminder that we in fact don’t know much of anything.

The thing is, I bet we’d quickly lose interest in Nessie if she did prove to be real. You’d get headlines for the first three months, a documentary in a year, tourism over the next decade, and then interest would start to wane. It’d basically be a mundane spin on the plot of Jurassic Park contained to a quiet loch of Scotland, without the rampant murder.

On the flip side, running around the trails of Scotland is a constant reminder that the world is already brimming with the fantastical. This, I believe, is what Nan Shepherd captured so beautifully in her writing. Those towering waterfalls off in the distance, rainbows so vivid I felt like I could press my face against them, the healing power of extended time spent in nature, it’s all right there in front of us.

My time on the trails came to an end in Inverness after a 20-mile (32-kilometer) jaunt to finish the Great Glen Way. After grabbing lunch at the Victorian Market (spicy cauliflower bowl from Salt’N’Fire), I spent the rest of the day relaxing and taking notes until it was time to eat again—veggie haggis with live Scottish music at The Highlander. Listening to some tunes inspired by the local landscapes seemed like a fitting enough way to end the trip.

Onwards to the Kerry Way

The next day, I took the train back down to Glasgow for a quick flight over to Dublin where I met Melanie. We’re now on the train to Killarney, which is sure to be busy with the Kerry Way Ultra setting off first thing in the morning.

But we’re not running in the race. Instead, we’ll be hopping around the 200-kilometer loop trail for a few days to scout it out for a future Burning River Running Company trip.

On that note: Do reach out if you’re interested in learning more about a trail running tour of Scotland or Ireland. As always, runners (and hikers!) of all paces are welcome.